Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. It was first established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington and is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. It was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday. Senator Steven Wallace Dorsey from Arkansas was the first person to propose the measure, and in 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law. Traditionally it was celebrated on February 22 which is Washington’s actual birth date. The holiday only became known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday act, which was an attempt to create more three-day weekends for America’s workers. However several states do still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other presidents. Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.
If you want to know what the holiday is all about then you just need to look around on Presidents’ Day. Look at the smiles on the faces of the kids and adults who got a day off from school and work. The beautiful thing about this holiday is that even if you don’t celebrate it, you are celebrating it. Presidents’ Day is about exercising the freedoms we were given by the leaders of this country past and present. It’s a day for Americans to celebrate the men who made this country what it is today. Celebrate by doing anything you please because that’s what America is, the land of the free. So this Presidents’ Day, remember to celebrate by remembering the men who made this country great or by doing whatever you want.